Busy Bee

Many of us were blessed with a 3-day weekend, thanks to Labor Day. Usually I would savor the extra day by indulging in guilty pleasures that I don't usually have time for: sleeping in, a "What Not to Wear" marathon, reading magazines, or browsing travel websites while planning imaginary vacations.

However, this past weekend I decided that I'd spend my extra time getting some of those nagging 'to-dos' crossed of my list. I feel like we've been so busy this summer that they just kept adding up! As I discovered during a prioritizing exercise at the Healthy Living Summit, having an inviting home is important to me. I used this as a guide and focused on tasks that would help get me to that goal. Some solid productivity felt SO good. Here are a few of the things I got accomplished:

Bedroom Curtains

I have been trying to get some decent curtains hung in our bedroom for months now. The ones that came with the house were white mini-blinds (which we kept...for now) and basic white tab curtains.

Until I started reading home decor blogs (hello, who isn't in love with Young House Love?!) I didn't even think to reevaluate our curtains. I decided to look for something new with the following attributes:

• Blocks Light - Sometimes Kate has to run calls all night at the fire department so she is forced to sleep during the day. The option to block out sunlight is great in these instances.
• Neutral Color & Not White - Although we have white trim around the doors and windows in the room, I wanted something other than white. We have rich wood tones in our furniture and the walls are painted a dark grey/purple-y color (it's called Flagstone.) I though we might be able to make grey or cream work, depending on the tone.
• Possibly Printed - At first I thought a modern print would be kind of neat, but I quickly realized it wouldn't go with the rest of the room. However, I was still open to a calm/neutral print.

I finally found something that I liked, but once I got them up I realized that I didn't like where the rod was hung. It was attached to the center of the molding.

I think the white curtains and white molding blended so much before that I didn't notice. But all of a sudden it looked really strange to have white molding peaking up over the new silvery curtains. I decided it was time to move the curtain rod. I'm always nervous about putting holes in the walls, but it turned out to be easy-peasy.

How to Hang Curtains

• First things first, turn off the ceiling fan! I got my head scarily close to that thing before I realized it'd be a lot safer to just turn it off.
• Remove the brackets (I used a cordless drill with a screwdriver bit.)

• Measure and mark where you want the brackets to go. I went with 5.5" below the ceiling since our ceiling is low & sloped. (Yes, I totally 'marked' the wall by scraping off bits of the paint.)

• Drill a pilot hole at your marks so it's easier to screw into the wall. (I used the same cordless drill, but switched to a small drill bit.)

• Attach your brackets using the pre-drilled holes, but don't tighten the screws all the way. (Again I used the drill + screwdriver bit.)

• Hang up the rod to make sure it is level, adjusting if necessary. Once everything is in place, tighten the screws. (I used a hand-held screwdriver for this because my drill didn't fit well enough.)

Not too shabby! I did however notice a slight issue....there were now marks on the molding that needed to be painted.

Even though the previous home-owners left all of their leftover paint (and even labeled the cans as to what each were used for!), I was not in the mood to dig it out and tackle the touch-ups. So although I got 'hang bedroom curtains' crossed off of the list, 'touch up bedroom paint' got added to it. :/

In the meantime, here is what our window looks like.

Bulk Bin Storage

Next up on the to-do list was something in the kitchen. This little corner where our dry goods from the bulk bins are stashed started to get out of control.

A case of mason jars will be perfect for storage. I love how they look, plus the uniform size will keep things orderly.

I dressed them up with a little decorative Con-tact paper. I traced the flat part of the lid onto the back of the paper, cut out the circles, peeled, and stuck!

I wanted a way to stack them that was neat but still displayed the jars and their contents. After 2 trips to Target where I got to be the crazy lady pulling mason jars out of my purse while pacing up and down the shelving aisle, I had  solution. I chose this metal 'step' shelf.

I really liked the look of this shelf, but I didn't like how slippery it was for the glass jars. My remedy for this was a little grippy shelf liner.

At first I was just going to lay a strip down the length of the shelf, but I didn't like seeing the self paper between the jars. Instead, I cut thin strips and wrapped them around the bars just where the jars would land, securing the ends with a piece of tape. It was bit tedious, but I like how it turned out.

Now I display my bulk bin items with pride...they're just so pretty!

I'm still toying with the idea of labeling each lid, but I like how clean they look right now without my scrappy handwriting all over them. We'll see.

As well as lots of laundry and some blog updates (did you see my new Race Recaps page?!), I tackled a task for the outside of the house.

Planters for the Porch

I realize I'm a bit late in this matter, but I wanted to get some flowers out on the porch. Hardy Mums are all over the place at the moment...and sound like a plant I can handle. I picked up a few window box planters (on clearance at Target) and a flat of mums that haven't bloomed yet from the hardware store. I got to planting and now have lovely decorations for our porch.

We don't have window boxes on the porch, but we have a wide banister that is the perfect size for displaying these planters. As long as the wind doesn't blow them over, I'll think we'll be in good shape.

After all of my hard work, I decided to unwind on Monday night by making myself a nice dinner. I really do like to cook, and love to try new recipes. As I described in a previous post, I made Jenna's Cheesy Zucchini Pizza.

Along with a glass of wine, it was the perfect way to wrap up a busy weekend!